DEET Affects Nervous System in Animal Studies

Bad News For DEET Users

With all the rain many areas in the US have been getting this Summer, mosquitoes are out of control. Bug sprays that contain DEET are just about the only thing guaranteed to repel those buggers, but a new study may make you think twice before spraying it all over your body. In scientific experiments on insects, DEET was found to interfere with proper functioning of the central nervous system. The researchers say that testing on humans is urgently needed, since more than 200 million people use products containing DEET. Oddly enough, there hasn't been a lot of research on the effects of this chemical on humans, but if it affects the nervous systems of bugs, it can't be too healthy for us.

Although the EPA has said in the past that if used as directed, bug sprays containing DEET are not harmful to humans, does this new study change your mind?

This seems somewhat counter-intuitive to me. The whole point of DEET is to interfere with bugs so that they stay away! Other studies have made a much more compelling argument for additional studies on the toxicity of DEET towards humans. DEET toxicity tests on insects are a waste of time - DEET is supposed to be toxic to insects!!

5 years

I can't remember the brand right now, but for our last camping trip I bought a natural spray with no deet. Our dogs like to lick, and there's no way I would let them ingest the stuff. The spray didn't last as long as the deet products, but I didn't wind up with ANY mosquito bites. That is amazing, because I can't even stand in my garden for 5 minutes without getting eaten up, and we were in the Tennessee woods for 3 days near a lake. I was impressed.

I spray it on the outside of my clothing. With the prevalence of West Nile Virus and Lyme's Disease plus my severe allergy to bee stings, I'll continue to use Deet on my clothes. The protection it offers outweights the risks for me.